Robinson has spoken really well tonight. The best I've heard him speak. Well done KR.
You're very positive these days covered end. Not that you weren't before, but you seem to have a more upbeat tone from your recent posts. Any reason?
Yes. I've always supported the team by attending matches and I've always supported & joined all the protests including going to Belgium. I have also always said criticise when it is due and don't just criticise everything, because it undermines our "case". I have not changed my view on any of this.
However, my biggest complaint with RD, is that he has not been running Charlton like a proper football club.
Ok. I could come up with a hundred things that I've been very unhappy about. But the main one is not running Charlton as a proper football club.
Now, I'm nobodies fool and I'm acutely aware that RD could do something tomorrow to enrage me and if he does I'll be the first to say so.
But, in recent times, (I'll say recent because there's no point disagreeing over how many months), I think we have been run like a proper football club again.
Ok, we're a club now in League 1 and we really shouldn't be. But to me at least, we are now being run like a League 1 club and not some player farm/circus.
We have an experienced League 1 manager and we have recruited players who are used to playing in the English leagues.
We have 2 coaches who are ex Charlton players, one of whom is a Charlton legend and many recently wanted as manager.
We can all discuss the merits of the manager & coaches, but that's just normal football banter.
We've stopped the ridiculous merry go round of foreign coaches and foreign players who were not appropriate, being foisted upon us.
Fans that are boycotting, good luck to them, I don't criticise anyone, I've said time and time again, everyone has to do what they have to do.
Me personally I could never boycott. Charlton is my true love, my religion, my call to prayers.
If they are playing at home I'll be there, it's not optional, it's a given.
I suppose I have the passion like the 50,000 Geordies that turn up every match, even when they are bottom of the league.
If fans have been boycotting for 3 years and RD is still the owner in another 5 years, that's heading towards a decade of non attendance. Despite what fans says, for many there's no turning back from that, despite what they may genuinely believe.
Even if they do come back, we may have lost a generation of supporters, just as we did at Selhurst. Our kids won't be supporting Charlton, because they are not allowed their team's kit and they are not allowed to watch their team. So guess what it won't be their team. We'll be the smallest South London club again back like the in the late 80's, with Palace and even Millwall getting bigger attendances. Personally, that isn't what I want. I preferred it when we were top dog.
All that effort to get us back to The Valley and then build the club up to a brilliantly run Premiership club down the pan.
Inevitably, RD will sell up at some stage and what sort of Charlton will be left ?
So much damage has been done, my sons no longer attend.
The constant negativity on here, even for the positive things is sapping my strength.
So, I'll be going along as usual. I'll be meeting my mates for a beer beforehand as usual and I'll support the team as usual, as I have done since the late 60's and since holding a S/T since 1973.
God I could cry for what we've become.
Even as 1 of the boycotters, I have to say that's a brilliant post, Churchillesque in fact. Fair play!
I agree with much of what you have written, especially the frustration at what weve become, but I'm not sure at all that I understand HOW you are proposing to change things, @Covered End?
Cheers WILB, for info we sponsored the Card shirts so you can get my/our disdain of the BLOODY Belgians, ultimately though I want us back in the Championship then all being well a takeover and then you never know...............constant negativity of Robinson and the team will only make each and every Saturday evermore painfull. Finished really well back end of last season, strengthened the squad & so very unlucky not to beat Millscum in January so on the playing field a lot to be optimistic about.
Pleasure, what companies chose to sponsor or advertise within is entirely upto them, working within the football and sporting advertising insustry there is no rhyme or reason why companies do or don't advertise however they have their own reasons and they should be respected. Your right with the constant negativity and is a total ball ache to be honest, what I don't get if you are that miserable about the team then why come on here and post, you are not going to change the minds of those who want to support the team and get behind the club just as you are not going to get an owner to sell. Everyone has choices in life and it is wrong for people to sit there and shot down what people believe in, if you have lost the love for the club and don't have nothing good to say then don't say nothing at all. I have had my family slagged off on social media, my son dragged into things, been stalked on business media sites, clearly they don't realise that someone can see when they have viewed there profile just because I stand up for my club.
I think people of all different views come on here to post and have many diffrent view points. If advertisers are due respect aren't fans of differing opinions entitled to the same respect.
I agree with much of what you have written, especially the frustration at what weve become, but I'm not sure at all that I understand HOW you are proposing to change things, @Covered End?
Well the only way is for the fans to return and support their team, but it's up to them isn't it ? I certainly don't want to get the flak for telling people what they should be doing, even though I'm expecting it anyway.
It's our choice as fans whether we now choose to be a smaller club than say Millwall or not. I think the players, manager and coaches deserve our support.
I agree with much of what you have written, especially the frustration at what weve become, but I'm not sure at all that I understand HOW you are proposing to change things, @Covered End?
Well the only way is for the fans to return and support their team, but it's up to them isn't it ? I certainly don't want to get the flak for telling people what they should be doing, even though I'm expecting it anyway.
It's our choice as fans whether we now choose to be a smaller club than say Millwall or not. It's a buggers muddle and no mistake.
People make their own individual choices though. Mine has been to go to matches, although I don't enjoy them as much because I don't believe that the way the club is set up it can succeed.
I don't trust the people making the decisions because I don't believe that the numerous people who I respect who have tried their very best to work with Katrien Meire and who have no conceivable "agenda" can all be wrong when they say that she is out of her depth. That's people at all levels, inside and outside of the organisation. People who have massive credibility with fans.
I don't believe it's a coincidence that there isn't one such person saying to me, actually she's been treated unfairly, she deserves a chance, she's doing a really good job. I don't believe that from my own limited personal dealings with her and I don't believe it from the decisions she has made and the things she has said publicly.
Very clearly she has had a much larger role in the football side of the club than any previous chief executive. That has been a disaster.
On top of that we have an owner who intervenes on a whim, believes he is equipped by his genius to advise experienced professionals and IMO is clearly unhinged.
To get beyond that you have to believe the football side can operate entirely independent of this owner and this chief executive, when the whole experience of the last three and a half years has been the opposite.
You have to believe that Karl Robinson is such a good manager and has the depth and quality of squad that he can succeed despite these handicaps, despite how last season unfolded. That's still possible, but the evidence is not there.
It's a heroic leap of faith in my view at this point - otherwise it's covering your eyes and sticking your fingers in your ears to drown out the reality, simply because you want it to be true. I understand the appeal of that, but I can't do it and I think a lot of people are the same.
The fact we are smaller than the scum says it all , even when we've been below them in recent years we have always had bigger gates .
Now because of the shitness that has run through our club , not because Airman or CARD or Henry have said boycott , we have seen our support decimated .
Each and everyone who has walked away , to me in the last couple of years , has made the hardest decision and I respect them more for doing that than the likes of me who take the easy route and turn up an in doing so partly justify the circus that has taken place imo
Very clearly she has had a much larger role in the football side of the club than any previous chief executive. That has been a disaster.
That scares the shit out of me that that KM has anything but a minor role in footballing decisions , it's a pisstake on us no two ways about it .
I admire Covered ends optimism , I'm pretty sure he was similar at this stage last year before the shitstorm of a season arrived . Footballing wise I thought we'd do a lot better as well last year , this year I'm a bit numb with it , we haven't got a fixture that anyone I know, outside of Charlton mates, gives a flying fuck about .
And worse than all of this probably for the rest of my life we'll have an excuse about why our shitty away numbers will remain , twas ever thus
It's interesting that people are getting caricatured as 'positive' or 'negative' depending on their attitude to the regime and to the protests. When actually, supporting the regime and arguing against protesters/boycotters is no more or less positive than taking the opposite stance. It doesn't mean that you're more optimistic or that you have better views or that you're a better fan or anything like that. It purely means that you have a different opinion. People are taking negativity as in having negative beliefs about the regime and extrapolating from that some imagined general negativity. But the opposite could be said. I am a positive person. I am positive that I want Duchatelet and Meire out. I am positive that if we all stick together we can win. I am positive that one day they will be gone and we will get our club back. It strikes me that that is far more positive than worrying what might happen if someone misses a few matches. But of course that's just an opinion too. We all have different opinions, but it is silly to infer from that that there are two camps of Charlton fans one of which is more positive than the other.
Stig is right , I'm pretty positive as I was(wrongfully for once) last season to where we will finish football wise . Once again I think it isn't the strongest League One and we have a decent chance of promotion. Last season we missed a great chance to get promoted due to lack of strength and depth in the squad because of our fuckwit owners , not because Mr Invisble took the place of a few Charlton fans in the seats . Separately I think our owners are clueless chancers and the sooner we get off Roland and Daisy's tragic roundabout the better for the future of our club .
Stig is right , I'm pretty positive as I was(wrongfully for once) last season to where we will finish football wise . Once again I think it isn't the strongest League One and we have a decent chance of promotion. Last season we missed a great chance to get promoted due to lack of strength and depth in the squad because of our fuckwit owners , not because Mr Invisble took the place of a few Charlton fans in the seats . Separately I think our owners are clueless chancers and the sooner we get off Roland and Daisy's tragic roundabout the better for the future of our club .
Stig is right , I'm pretty positive as I was(wrongfully for once) last season to where we will finish football wise . Once again I think it isn't the strongest League One and we have a decent chance of promotion. Last season we missed a great chance to get promoted due to lack of strength and depth in the squad because of our fuckwit owners , not because Mr Invisble took the place of a few Charlton fans in the seats . Separately I think our owners are clueless chancers and the sooner we get off Roland and Daisy's tragic roundabout the better for the future of our club .
Given their track record and our squad still being light, I cannot for the life of me see why you have 0% relegation. Gotta be 5% minimum.
We have something like 22 senior pros. Our squad is not "light." It's not properly balanced at the moment, but we're 1-2 (GK, attacker) away from having a good squad. This is League One. I doubt we're going to come up against a more talented squad than ours (efficacy is of course another story).
Stig is right , I'm pretty positive as I was(wrongfully for once) last season to where we will finish football wise . Once again I think it isn't the strongest League One and we have a decent chance of promotion. Last season we missed a great chance to get promoted due to lack of strength and depth in the squad because of our fuckwit owners , not because Mr Invisble took the place of a few Charlton fans in the seats . Separately I think our owners are clueless chancers and the sooner we get off Roland and Daisy's tragic roundabout the better for the future of our club .
Given their track record and our squad still being light, I cannot for the life of me see why you have 0% relegation. Gotta be 5% minimum.
We have something like 22 senior pros. Our squad is not "light." It's not properly balanced at the moment, but we're 1-2 (GK, attacker) away from having a good squad. This is League One. I doubt we're going to come up against a more talented squad than ours (efficacy is of course another story).
However in bold i've put the players who are either injured or have serious question marks over their ability to play in 40+ league games. When you look at it that way, we're woefully short.
I have to admit, I quite like him. I think he made a few mistakes last season both on and off the pitch, but forgive him because his intentions were good. I think football can be quite simple in certain aspects - one of those is if you think you have a decent manager, back him and see where he can take you. I'd like to see him backed a bit more, we, as a club, need the electric shock treatment to get us going.
Positively, I think he is a good enough manager to know what the problems were last season. It is a disadvantage of sacking managers all the time that they can't fix issues they have identified. Powell was backed to make the changes needed. I think Robinson less so, but he can still address them, he just needs a bit more luck than Powell did.
Attacking midfielders are already light with Marshalls injury
Full backs we are light with Page injury
We need a solid No1 keeper!!
Odds on kashi will break down within the first few months of the season and have a lengthy layoff which will leave us short in midfield as JJ and crofts aren't up to it.
To me it looks like KR will play 4-2-3-1 and he's relying on the '3' to feed off a striker that will hold up the ball. IMHO this won't work in this division. We know that the majority of teams aren't technically great sides but what they will do against the 'bigger' teams like us is get men behind the ball and scrap for every second ball. So many teams will play 4-5-1 against us at the valley and our '3' won't get a sniff. I'm on favour of a 4-4-2 formation with one striker being the goal poaching type and the other being a aerial threat who drops deep at times. Two fast tricky wingers Two centre mids who have a good range of passing and can tackle and bring the ball forward.
You can write reams and reams of well thought out reasons for attending, BUT the only way this lot will bugger of is if no one goes. Surely fans must see that nothing has changed, and won't while the Rat and Liar are in charge, and if you are bought by shiny trinkets in the post then nothing will dissuade you from going. As Albert Einstein said, Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Stig is right , I'm pretty positive as I was(wrongfully for once) last season to where we will finish football wise . Once again I think it isn't the strongest League One and we have a decent chance of promotion. Last season we missed a great chance to get promoted due to lack of strength and depth in the squad because of our fuckwit owners , not because Mr Invisble took the place of a few Charlton fans in the seats . Separately I think our owners are clueless chancers and the sooner we get off Roland and Daisy's tragic roundabout the better for the future of our club .
Given their track record and our squad still being light, I cannot for the life of me see why you have 0% relegation. Gotta be 5% minimum.
We have something like 22 senior pros. Our squad is not "light." It's not properly balanced at the moment, but we're 1-2 (GK, attacker) away from having a good squad. This is League One. I doubt we're going to come up against a more talented squad than ours (efficacy is of course another story).
However in bold i've put the players who are either injured or have serious question marks over their ability to play in 40+ league games. When you look at it that way, we're woefully short.
This is League One. How big do you think squads can get? I agree there are injury question marks over some players, but every squad has risks. Kashi, if fit, could be the best player in the league. There are always trade offs.
Attacking midfielders are already light with Marshalls injury
Full backs we are light with Page injury
We need a solid No1 keeper!!
Odds on kashi will break down within the first few months of the season and have a lengthy layoff which will leave us short in midfield as JJ and crofts aren't up to it.
To me it looks like KR will play 4-2-3-1 and he's relying on the '3' to feed off a striker that will hold up the ball. IMHO this won't work in this division. We know that the majority of teams aren't technically great sides but what they will do against the 'bigger' teams like us is get men behind the ball and scrap for every second ball. So many teams will play 4-5-1 against us at the valley and our '3' won't get a sniff. I'm on favour of a 4-4-2 formation with one striker being the goal poaching type and the other being a aerial threat who drops deep at times. Two fast tricky wingers Two centre mids who have a good range of passing and can tackle and bring the ball forward.
We played a lot of 4-4-2 last year under Slade and looked shit doing it. I think there's a decent case that we didn't have the central midfield for it, but finding two central midfielders who have the range of passing and athleticism required is...very, very, very difficult, even though we might have them in Kashi and JFC. We did have the little and large up front including a target man and a poacher. And that got us nowhere. It's 2017. It's time to move past the flat 4-4-2.
A 4-4-2 with a striker dropping deep and two attacking wingers isn't really that different from 4-2-3-1. Might be wrong but I thought that's how he set up MK Dons and won promotion with them. Difference is we don't have Dele Alli or enough goalscoring strikers.
We're in a better position squad wise compared to last year but pre-season optimism seems to have made some players better. A couple of months ago I don't think many would have been happy about KAG being one of our four wingers for example.
As it stands we're going to need a lot of "maybes" to work out. Magennis to score as a lone striker, Watt or Novak to take over if needed. KAG to step up, Kashi to remain fit and be the player we hope he is. JFC to improve and score more goals. Phillips to be consistent. We won't have the biggest team - how well will we defend set pieces? Barnes to do well if Solly isn't available. The new signings to settle and impress.
We should challenge but I'll feel a lot more confident if we get those 3/4 signings. Roland being Roland I'm just not expecting them.
Attacking midfielders are already light with Marshalls injury
Full backs we are light with Page injury
We need a solid No1 keeper!!
Odds on kashi will break down within the first few months of the season and have a lengthy layoff which will leave us short in midfield as JJ and crofts aren't up to it.
To me it looks like KR will play 4-2-3-1 and he's relying on the '3' to feed off a striker that will hold up the ball. IMHO this won't work in this division. We know that the majority of teams aren't technically great sides but what they will do against the 'bigger' teams like us is get men behind the ball and scrap for every second ball. So many teams will play 4-5-1 against us at the valley and our '3' won't get a sniff. I'm on favour of a 4-4-2 formation with one striker being the goal poaching type and the other being a aerial threat who drops deep at times. Two fast tricky wingers Two centre mids who have a good range of passing and can tackle and bring the ball forward.
This can be beaten with players that can beat a man or two or by quick, accurate passing and a bit of pace - that creates space. All formations can work with the right personnel. Managers will have ther favourite formations, but at least when they first come to the club, they have to look at formations that suit the players. Given time, they can bring players in that play the way they need for their favoured formations.
Attacking midfielders are already light with Marshalls injury
Full backs we are light with Page injury
We need a solid No1 keeper!!
Odds on kashi will break down within the first few months of the season and have a lengthy layoff which will leave us short in midfield as JJ and crofts aren't up to it.
To me it looks like KR will play 4-2-3-1 and he's relying on the '3' to feed off a striker that will hold up the ball. IMHO this won't work in this division. We know that the majority of teams aren't technically great sides but what they will do against the 'bigger' teams like us is get men behind the ball and scrap for every second ball. So many teams will play 4-5-1 against us at the valley and our '3' won't get a sniff. I'm on favour of a 4-4-2 formation with one striker being the goal poaching type and the other being a aerial threat who drops deep at times. Two fast tricky wingers Two centre mids who have a good range of passing and can tackle and bring the ball forward.
This can be beaten with players that can beat a man or two or by quick, accurate passing and a bit of pace - that creates space. All formations can work with the right personnel. Managers will have ther favourite formations, but at least when they first come to the club, they have to look at formations that suit the players. Given time, they can bring players in that play the way they need for their favoured formations.
And I think we focus too much on Robinson's formation without giving due credit to the fact that he has a system. That is to press high using fit and athletic players, and to get possession and keep possession and build from the back, but to be incisive with it, including using two central midfielders with a good range of passing, quality wingers, overlapping fullbacks, and a good #10 to knit things together. I think the question mark is still the 10, but the rest of that we pretty much have a strong first 11 for (goalkeeper excluded).
So rather than rehashing the same points over and over (not that Covered End and others haven't made very valid points) WTF did Robinson say about Charlton?
I wonder what he'll say about player signings. Same old same old.
Do you really support Charlton -or are you just happy for any excuse to criticise the club?
No excuses needed. There are huge numbers of real, actual, verified, genuine, well-documented, videoed reasons to criticise the club aren't there? There must be scores of them. Right through the whole spectrum of things that could possibly have gone wrong: they did go wrong, didn't they?
From the total disdain the club have shown its supporters customers through to all the lies about when the training ground building works will actually be finished started. Layer on top of that the never-ending appointment and inevitable sacking of inept managers and the churn of huge numbers of players, both good and bad and it becomes really rather easy to criticise.
I have insufficient football knowledge to criticise Robinson on the basis of his tactical awareness (as some have done, perhaps legitimately, I just don't know if he's any good. But he works for Roland.) I also don't know enough about out current crop of players to criticise most of those, merely because I've never seen a significant number of them play more than a couple of games!
But it is human nature, based on well-founded knowledge, to be cautious. (It's what's kept us alive over the millennia.) In our case the old saying "once bitten, twice shy" can actually be converted into "50 times bitten, avoid like the plague, otherwise you'll be bitten again (and again)".
So, it is entirely reasonable to expect the same old, same old. Experience tells us this! If you don't get that, I can only assume that you are a likely future candidate for The Darwin Awards.
That citrus fruit that's been sitting in the fruit bowl for a few weeks might be quite tasty but if the peel is green and covered in mould, the sensible are going to give it a swerve and chuck it straight into the (recycling) bin.
So, to use your own phraseology, you're using any excuse to criticise fans aren't you? The difference is your criticism is entirely unfounded.
So how long is it before the AFC Wimbledon option becomes a reality. An alternative Charlton that is the real Charlton not the mad experiment that RD and KM are failing with. I sometimes drift into thinking RD has money and if he had an able CEO it would improve. I know this option is not going to happen. RD must know that KM is the major cause of the rejection of the club by many thousands of fans. Yet he does nothing about it, if he cared, had an agenda to develop the club for football purposes he would have removed her ages ago. It really is a shame that Charlton " names" e.g. Ex Directors do not speak out more. I have had private conversations with some and their views do not differ from those of us that despair at what RD and KM are doing.
Stig is right , I'm pretty positive as I was(wrongfully for once) last season to where we will finish football wise . Once again I think it isn't the strongest League One and we have a decent chance of promotion. Last season we missed a great chance to get promoted due to lack of strength and depth in the squad because of our fuckwit owners , not because Mr Invisble took the place of a few Charlton fans in the seats . Separately I think our owners are clueless chancers and the sooner we get off Roland and Daisy's tragic roundabout the better for the future of our club .
Given their track record and our squad still being light, I cannot for the life of me see why you have 0% relegation. Gotta be 5% minimum.
We have something like 22 senior pros. Our squad is not "light." It's not properly balanced at the moment, but we're 1-2 (GK, attacker) away from having a good squad. This is League One. I doubt we're going to come up against a more talented squad than ours (efficacy is of course another story).
However in bold i've put the players who are either injured or have serious question marks over their ability to play in 40+ league games. When you look at it that way, we're woefully short.
This is League One. How big do you think squads can get? I agree there are injury question marks over some players, but every squad has risks. Kashi, if fit, could be the best player in the league. There are always trade offs.
How many would you add?
Think we need at least a winger and a striker and ideally Reeves as well.
I agree with you that league one squads can't be too big but with Marshall injured we're already light for wingers. I said on another thread the other day that if any 2-3 from Kashi, Holmes, Marshall and Magennis get injured we're fucked, and now 1 of them is already out.
Comments
What's the latest on any takeover news ?
I certainly don't want to get the flak for telling people what they should be doing, even though I'm expecting it anyway.
It's our choice as fans whether we now choose to be a smaller club than say Millwall or not.
I think the players, manager and coaches deserve our support.
It's a buggers muddle and no mistake.
I don't trust the people making the decisions because I don't believe that the numerous people who I respect who have tried their very best to work with Katrien Meire and who have no conceivable "agenda" can all be wrong when they say that she is out of her depth. That's people at all levels, inside and outside of the organisation. People who have massive credibility with fans.
I don't believe it's a coincidence that there isn't one such person saying to me, actually she's been treated unfairly, she deserves a chance, she's doing a really good job. I don't believe that from my own limited personal dealings with her and I don't believe it from the decisions she has made and the things she has said publicly.
Very clearly she has had a much larger role in the football side of the club than any previous chief executive. That has been a disaster.
On top of that we have an owner who intervenes on a whim, believes he is equipped by his genius to advise experienced professionals and IMO is clearly unhinged.
To get beyond that you have to believe the football side can operate entirely independent of this owner and this chief executive, when the whole experience of the last three and a half years has been the opposite.
You have to believe that Karl Robinson is such a good manager and has the depth and quality of squad that he can succeed despite these handicaps, despite how last season unfolded. That's still possible, but the evidence is not there.
It's a heroic leap of faith in my view at this point - otherwise it's covering your eyes and sticking your fingers in your ears to drown out the reality, simply because you want it to be true. I understand the appeal of that, but I can't do it and I think a lot of people are the same.
Now because of the shitness that has run through our club , not because Airman or CARD or Henry have said boycott , we have seen our support decimated .
Each and everyone who has walked away , to me in the last couple of years , has made the hardest decision and I respect them more for doing that than the likes of me who take the easy route and turn up an in doing so partly justify the circus that has taken place imo
When I read this below That scares the shit out of me that that KM has anything but a minor role in footballing decisions , it's a pisstake on us no two ways about it .
I admire Covered ends optimism , I'm pretty sure he was similar at this stage last year before the shitstorm of a season arrived .
Footballing wise I thought we'd do a lot better as well last year , this year I'm a bit numb with it , we haven't got a fixture that anyone I know, outside of Charlton mates, gives a flying fuck about .
And worse than all of this probably for the rest of my life we'll have an excuse about why our shitty away numbers will remain , twas ever thus
Once again I think it isn't the strongest League One and we have a decent chance of promotion.
Last season we missed a great chance to get promoted due to lack of strength and depth in the squad because of our fuckwit owners , not because Mr Invisble took the place of a few Charlton fans in the seats .
Separately I think our owners are clueless chancers and the sooner we get off Roland and Daisy's tragic roundabout the better for the future of our club .
5% Automatic promotion ......... 35% 3rd-6th .......... 55% 7th-12th ......5% 13th-20th ....... 0% Relegation
100% Roland Out
Phillips + GK (1, +1)
DaSilva and Page (2)
Konsa, Sarr, Pearce, Lennon, Bauer (5)
Solly
Crofts, JFC, Aribo, Kashi, JJ (5)
Marshall, Holmes, Fosu, KAG, (4, +1)
Clarke, Watt, Magennis, Novak (4)
Youth stepping up: Dijksteel, RCC, Barnes
I'm probably forgetting someone.
However in bold i've put the players who are either injured or have serious question marks over their ability to play in 40+ league games. When you look at it that way, we're woefully short.
Positively, I think he is a good enough manager to know what the problems were last season. It is a disadvantage of sacking managers all the time that they can't fix issues they have identified. Powell was backed to make the changes needed. I think Robinson less so, but he can still address them, he just needs a bit more luck than Powell did.
Attacking midfielders are already light with Marshalls injury
Full backs we are light with Page injury
We need a solid No1 keeper!!
Odds on kashi will break down within the first few months of the season and have a lengthy layoff which will leave us short in midfield as JJ and crofts aren't up to it.
To me it looks like KR will play 4-2-3-1 and he's relying on the '3' to feed off a striker that will hold up the ball. IMHO this won't work in this division. We know that the majority of teams aren't technically great sides but what they will do against the 'bigger' teams like us is get men behind the ball and scrap for every second ball. So many teams will play 4-5-1 against us at the valley and our '3' won't get a sniff.
I'm on favour of a 4-4-2 formation with one striker being the goal poaching type and the other being a aerial threat who drops deep at times.
Two fast tricky wingers
Two centre mids who have a good range of passing and can tackle and bring the ball forward.
Surely fans must see that nothing has changed, and won't while the Rat and Liar are in charge, and if you are bought by shiny trinkets in the post then nothing will dissuade you from going.
As Albert Einstein said, Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
How many would you add?
We're in a better position squad wise compared to last year but pre-season optimism seems to have made some players better. A couple of months ago I don't think many would have been happy about KAG being one of our four wingers for example.
As it stands we're going to need a lot of "maybes" to work out. Magennis to score as a lone striker, Watt or Novak to take over if needed. KAG to step up, Kashi to remain fit and be the player we hope he is. JFC to improve and score more goals. Phillips to be consistent. We won't have the biggest team - how well will we defend set pieces? Barnes to do well if Solly isn't available. The new signings to settle and impress.
We should challenge but I'll feel a lot more confident if we get those 3/4 signings. Roland being Roland I'm just not expecting them.
From the total disdain the club have shown its
supporterscustomers through to all the lies about when the training ground building works will actually befinishedstarted. Layer on top of that the never-ending appointment and inevitable sacking of inept managers and the churn of huge numbers of players, both good and bad and it becomes really rather easy to criticise.I have insufficient football knowledge to criticise Robinson on the basis of his tactical awareness (as some have done, perhaps legitimately, I just don't know if he's any good. But he works for Roland.) I also don't know enough about out current crop of players to criticise most of those, merely because I've never seen a significant number of them play more than a couple of games!
But it is human nature, based on well-founded knowledge, to be cautious. (It's what's kept us alive over the millennia.) In our case the old saying "once bitten, twice shy" can actually be converted into "50 times bitten, avoid like the plague, otherwise you'll be bitten again (and again)".
So, it is entirely reasonable to expect the same old, same old. Experience tells us this! If you don't get that, I can only assume that you are a likely future candidate for The Darwin Awards.
That citrus fruit that's been sitting in the fruit bowl for a few weeks might be quite tasty but if the peel is green and covered in mould, the sensible are going to give it a swerve and chuck it straight into the (recycling) bin.
So, to use your own phraseology, you're using any excuse to criticise fans aren't you? The difference is your criticism is entirely unfounded.
It really is a shame that Charlton " names" e.g. Ex Directors do not speak out more. I have had private conversations with some and their views do not differ from those of us that despair at what RD and KM are doing.
I agree with you that league one squads can't be too big but with Marshall injured we're already light for wingers. I said on another thread the other day that if any 2-3 from Kashi, Holmes, Marshall and Magennis get injured we're fucked, and now 1 of them is already out.